Mastering FSBOs – Chapter 6

Don’t Pressure FSBOs To Much Just Demonstrate Your Value

Another giant key is to not lay it that thick on to FSBOs. Prospecting is great, but you can get these listings without prospecting the standard way.

Do you look forward to going to a car dealership and experiencing a salesperson try to shove you into a car that you don’t want? No one enjoys it.

When you try and “sell” someone you usually push them away.

So don’t make the same mistakes that agents make when they annoy these owners. Don’t beat them over the head with the statistics too much, but still let them know.

Here is what most agents do. They try to convince the FSBOs to list with them by telling them the statistics. “91% of all home sellers hire a Realtor”, they tell the FSBO. Even though this logic is sound, the FSBO doesn’t care. Most of the time they feel insulted. They usually don’t list with that agent.

Imagine the FSBO is holding a 300-pound weight over his head. That weight is the work of selling his home FSBO. Of course, he’ll start to buckle under the weight. You don’t need to force him to buckle before he’s ready to do it naturally.

Build your relationship and earn their trust.

You can continue to systematically follow up and ask how their sale is going. Give them any insight you have. but don’t ask them to list with you. By demonstrating your helpfulness, expertise and even friendliness, when they cave finally (which 91% do, so it’s probably going to happen) it will be a simple choice for them when they call you.

You know they will eventually list. You just don’t know WHEN.

This is why prospecting is not a great way to go after FSBOs. Or at least the standard way of doing it. With that system, after you didn’t get a listing you move on to the next leads. So that’s where this ideology differs. Don’t ask them or pressure them, and they stay a warm or even hot lead.

What are you going to say the next time you call the FSBO?

“Hey, you didn’t want to list the last time I called you. Do you want to list today?”

Don’t go that route. Try and offer assistance. Because, even if you help the FSBO, and don’t get the listing, you can add them as a contact to your database for regular contact and maybe they’ll turn into a referral.

Here are a few ways you can offer assistance and separate yourself from other agents.

It’s easy to separate yourself from other agents.

Offer Free Pictures.

Smart Sellers Plan.

Raise the price.

You need to separate yourself from those slick sales people who just want to get a quick listing.

You’ve got to be helpful. If you’re helpful, you’ll even get referrals. I’ve had FSBOs refer other sellers to me and gotten a listing simply because I was useful to them. I was shocked the first time it happened. But, it’s true.

Here three specific strategies you can use to set yourself apart:

1.Offer free photos.

You approach the FSBO, and you say, “Hey, I’d like to offer you free professional-quality pictures of your house.”

Some of them are going to think it’s crazy, but just by providing that, they’ll recognize you’re trying to help rather than take.

The Law of Reciprocity kicks in, and you’re going to get a lot of listings as a result. Not sure what we mean? Just google the Law of Reciprocity.

Here are some scripts you can use to offer free pictures to a FSBO:

[The scripts are designed to be used after you have mailed a FSBO a copy of your book. So, you may want to make some modifications before using them.]

2. Offer the sellers a “Smart Sellers” plan.

The Smart Sellers Plan is where you put the house on the market, and the FSBO continues to market the house themselves to see if they can sell it.

If they manage to get a buyer, you come out. You take down your sign, your lock box. They don’t pay you a dime in commission.

But if you get a buyer at a price that’s acceptable to them, then they agree to pay your commission.

What you’re doing here is making it very, very easy for them to give up on selling as a For Sale By Owner.

Ninety percent of the time, you’ll end up doing a great job marketing their house, and they’re just going to stop trying to market their house For Sale By Owner. They’ll let you take over, and then it just turns into a regular listing.

Plus, there are more benefits for you.

You got to have your sign in the yard. The Zillow ad also goes to you as a listed house.

If you contact Zillow’s support department, you can ask them to transition the ad over to a for sale with a real estate agent ad versus For Sale By Owner. I’ve done that many, many times.

3. Raise the price.

This one’s simple. Come in and show them how you can get more money for their house.

You’re making it easy for them to give up on the dream.

But really, I shouldn’t call it a dream. More like the illusion that they can sell their house easily for full price For Sale By Owner and not pay a real estate agent.

Here’s how this works:

If you’re in a red hot market, you can get a lot of listings by raising the price because a lot of FSBOs tend to underprice their homes.

They put their house on the market for $375K, $360K, when realistically, it’s worth $400K to $420K.

If you’re in a red hot market, you also have the skills to deal with the appraisers, to know all the ins and outs of how to sell a house for what it’s realistically worth rather than what the appraisers and the FSBO might think the house is worth.

It’s up to you to show them how you can get them more money by raising the price. The higher price is going to pay for your commission.

Here’s a quick example:

I’ve done this many times in red hot markets myself.

There was a FSBO that was on the market, I think, for $220K.

I came in the door. I said, “Look, dude. You can get $235K, $240K for your house easily. Why don’t I put it on the market for $240K, and we’ll see if I can get you a little extra money?”

The house ended up selling for $235K.

I did all the work. There was less risk, less liability, and he still netted the same amount of money that he hoped to as a FSBO.

But the difference is he probably would’ve dropped his price $5, $10, $15K if a buyer had come in the door as a FSBO.

The key to getting the listing is the follow-up.

Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up.

Solid consistent follow-up will beat incredible sales skills every single day of the week. I’ve seen it over and over again.

I remember I listed a FSBO where another fantastic agent with excellent sales skills had called them and talked to them and captivated them and charmed them.

But he only called one time.

And he happened to call at a time when they weren’t ready to list their house with a realtor.